Button protector

ABSTRACT

PROTECTOR FOR BUTTONS ON CLOTHES DURING CLEANING CONSISTING OF TWO PIECES OF FABRIC MATERIAL SEWED TOGETHER ALONG ONE EDGE OF EACH PIECE AND HINGING THE PIECES TOGETHER TO ACCOMMODATE THE TOP PIECE TO FOLD OVER THE BOTTOM PIECE AND PROTECT A BUTTON ON A GARMENT AND BETWEEN THE TWO PIECES OF FABRIC MATERIAL. THE BOTTOM PIECE OF FABRIC MATERIAL HAS A SLIT FORMING A BUTTONHOLE, TO ACCOMMODATE THE INSERTION OF A BUTTON THROUGH THE HOLE WHEN SEWED TO CLOTHES TO BE CLEANED. A FLEXIBLE RETAINER MEMBER IN THE FORM OF A CORD OR THREAD OF PLASTIC MATERIAL IS SEWED TO THE TOP SURFACE OF THE BOTTOM PIECE OF FABRIC MATERIAL AND EXTENDS OVER THE BUTTONHOLE TO BE SLIPPED OVER A BUTTON IN THE BUTTONHOLE AND HOLD SMALL BUTTONS TO THE BUTTONHOLE. THE TWO PIECES OF MATERIAL ARE SECURED TOGETHER BY DETACHABLE FASTENING MEANS WHICH PREFERABLY IS OF A PILE FABRIC ON ONE PIECE OF MATERIAL AND A HOOKED FABRIC ON THE OTHER PIECE OF MATERIAL AND MADE FROM FASTENING MATERIALS MANUFACTURED UNDER THE TRADEMARK &#34;VELCRO&#34;.

NOV 2. 1971 B. l.. RosENTHAl. 3,616,498

BUTTON PROTECTOR Filed June 10, 1969 United States Patent O M U.S. Cl. 24--90.5 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Protector for buttons on clothes during cleaning consisting of two pieces of fabric material sewed together along one edge of each piece and hinging the pieces together to accommodate the top piece to fold over the bottom piece and protect a button on a garment and between the two pieces of fabric material. The bottom piece of fabric material has a slit forming a buttonhole, to accommodate the insertion of a button through the hole when sewed to clothes to be cleaned. A flexible retainer member in the form of a cord or thread of plastic material is sewed to the top surface of the bottom piece of fabric material and extends over the buttonhole to be slipped over a button in the buttonhole and hold small buttons to the buttonhole. The two pieces of material are secured together by detachable fastening means which preferably is of a pile fabric on one piece of material and a hooked fabric on the other piece of material and made from fastening materials manufactured under the trademark Velcro BACKGROUND AND OBJECTS OF INVENTION In the cleaning of garments having buttons which may be damaged during tumbling of the garments, the buttons have heretofore been removed and then re-sewn on the garment after cleaning, or have been wrapped in metal foil. Other button protectors have been made from a knit material that covers the button like a sock and has a round spring fitting under the button around the protector and holding the protector to the button.

The removal and re-sewing of the buttons is an uneconomical operation, while aluminum foil frequently comes v off the buttons during tumbling of the garment. The socklike button protector, while satisfactory for larger buttons, is diicult to firmly attach to smaller buttons with the result that the protectors many times do not stay on the buttons during tumbling and such protectors do not have the shock absorbing qualities necessary to adequately protect certain buttons due to the fact that the protector must be sufficiently .flexible to t over and around the button and the spring holding the protector to the button is so small that it loses its resiliency in a short time.

The button protector of the present invention, therefore, has as its principal objects to remedy the foregoing diiiculties in the protecting of expensive or brea'kable buttons during cleaning, by providing a foldable protector in the form of two pieces of fabric material which will withstand cleaning fluids and have shock absorbing qualities sufficient to protect buttons from damage during machine cleaning of the garments, to which the buttons are secured.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simplified form of button protector for protecting breakable buttons during cleaning of the garments to which the buttons are attached, arranged with a View toward utmost simplicity in construction, to positively cover the button and stay on the button during the entire operation of cleaning the garment.

A still further object of the invention is to simplify the button protectors heretofore in use for protecting buttons during dry cleaning by the use of two pieces of fabric Patented Nov. 2., 1971 ICC material interlockable into engagement with each other to cover the button and having high shock absorbing qualities.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple form of button protector formed from two pieces of fabric material sewed together, with a buttonhole extending through the bottom or lower piece of fabric material, in which fabric materials are made from fabrics having shock absorbing vqualities and have interlocking engagement with each other, when pressed together, to efficiently protect buttons from breaking, scratching or chipping and prevent certain buttons from discoloring the fabrics to which they are sewed, as well as to protect cloth buttons from fraying during the cleaning operation of a garment.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description of the embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF 'IIHE DRAWINGS FIG. l is a plan view of a button protector constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention, showing a lower piece of fabric material having a buttonhole therein through Which the button is inserted and showing the top piece of fabric material in an open position.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along line II-II of FIG. 1 showing a top piece of fabric material placed over the bottom piece of fabric material.

IFIG. 3 is a view of the button protector shown in FIG. l, showing a retaining tie slipped under a button for retaining the button to the lower protector.

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan View of the button protector shown in FIGS. i1 and 2 and illustrating the sewing of the top and bottom pieces of fabric together along one edge thereof; and

FIG. 5 is a plan view illustrating another form in which the invention may be embodied.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF INVENTION In the embodiments of the invention illustrated in the drawings, I have shown a fragment of a garment 10 having a button 11 sewed or otherwise secured thereto, and have shown a button protector i12 in position to cover the button and protect the button during cleaning. The button 11 extends through a slit or buttonhole 13 extending diagonally across a first piece of fabric textile material 15. The buttonhole 13 extends from a seam generally indicated by reference character 16, sewing an edge of the fabric textile material to an adjacent edge of a lapping fabric textile material 17 to accommodate hinging of the fabric textile material 17 about the seam 16 over the fabric textile material 15, and the button 11 extending through the buttonhole 13. The seam between the two pieces of fabric textile material serves to close the buttonhole in the form of the invention illustrated in FIGS. l to 5 inclusive.

The two pieces 0f fabric textile material are formed from material known to the trade as Velcro and commonly made from a nylon material, one piece of which is covered with soft nylon loops forming a pile fabric, and the other piece of which is covered with nely woven nylon monolaments formed into permanent hooks. The Velcro material may be of types like those shown and described in U.S. Pats. Nos. 2,717,437; 3,009,235; 3,083,- 737 and 3,154,837, lso need not herein be shown or described in detail.

As shown in FIGS. l. 2 and 3, the fabric textile material is covered with the soft nylon loops 19, and commonly termed a pile fabric. The piece of fabric material 17 adapted to cover the fabric material 15 and the button thereon is covered with a myriad of finely woven hooks 20 extending therefrom to be engaged with the loops of the pile fabric 19, when the top piece of fabric material has been hinged about the seam 16 over the bottom piece 15.

The top piece of fabric material 17 is slightly longer than the bottom piece 15, to provide an overhanging ledge 21 (FIG. 4), which may be engaged by the fingers when the two pieces of fabric material are fastened together, to accommodate the fingers to be placed under said ledge and provide a grip on the material and effect ready separation thereof.

A flexible retainer 23, which may be in the form of a cord or thread made from a fabric or plastic material, is secured at its opposite ends to the piece of fabric material 15 along the edge thereof opposite from the sewing 16 to provide a flexible loop which may be looped under small buttons 11 about the fastening means therefor, as shown in FIG. 3, to retain buttons, which would otherwise slip through the buttonhole 13 to the piece of fabric material 15 during the cleaning operation.

In FIG. 5, I have shown a button protector constructed on the same general principles as the button protector shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, in which a slit 24 extends along a lower piece of fabric material 25 from one side thereof and opens into an enlarged portion 26, fitting around the thread fastening the button to the garment. A retainer cord or thread 27 is secured to the strip 25 at its opposite ends, adjacent one side thereof, and is formed to extend over the enlarged open portion 26 of the slit 24, to retain the button protector to a button sewed or otherwise secured to a garment in which the securing means for the button is in the enlarged portion 26. In this form of the invention, the hook fabric material is formed on the strip of fabric material 25, while the pile fabric material is formed on a second fabric material 29 hinged to said first fabric material, as by sewing the two pieces of fabric material 25 and 29 along their adjacent edges with one piece on top of the other.

This form of the invention operates in a manner similar to the form of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4 inclusive, but enables the protector to be readily inserted along the underside of a button sewed to a garment, without slipping the button through a buttonhole. This form of the invention also places the softer pile material over the top of the button, although both forms of the invention give about the same protection to the button.

It should be understood that while I have shown the protector as made from fabric materials in which one material has a hooked fabric surface and the other material 4 has a pile fabric surface, that various other fabric materials and means for fastening the pieces of fabric material together may be used in place of the particular hook and eye materials shown and described.

I claim as my invention:

1. A button protector particularly adapted to protect breakable buttons during cleaning of garments having the breakable buttons secured thereto, comprising:

a first fabric textile material,

a second fabric textile material adapted to extend over the first fabric textile material,

one of said fabric textile materials being a pile fabric having a myriad of loops formed on one face thereof,

the other of said fabric textile materials being a hook fabric having a plurality of hooks extending from one face thereof,

said fabric textile materials each having at least one edge parallel to the edge of the other material,

means sewing said fabric textile materials together along the parallel edges thereof in lapping relation with respect to each other, with the pile fabric material facing the hook fabric material, and hinging the materials together,

a slit in said first fabric textile material extending inwardly along the first fabric material from a position adjacent an edge thereof toward the means sewing said fabric materials together, accommodating a button sewn to a garment to be inserted along said slit and placed between said fabric materials when in lapping relation with respect to each other, and

a exible retainer secured at its opposite ends to said first fabric material adjacent the edge thereof opposite the means sewing the fabric materials together at relatively widely spaced apart points on opposite sides of said slit to accommodate the flexible retainer to extend over said slit and under a button placed through said slit and partially about the means securing the button to the garment, to retain the button to said first fabric material to be protected by said second fabric material folded thereover.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,410,208 10/1946 Gauldin 68-235 3,098,375 7/1963 Friedler 68-235 3,500,478 3/1970 Foster 24-201 X FOREIGN PATENTS 607,884 8/1932 Germany 24-113 PAUL R. GILLIAM, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 68--235 

